ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Lecture No: 12

Resource Person:

Malik Jawad SaboorAssistant Professor

Department of Management SciencesCOMSATS Institute of Information Technology

Islamabad.

Previous Lecture Review

• Strategic Management

• Competitive Advantage

• Core Competency

• Strategic Management Process

• Vision & Mission Statement

• SWOT Analysis

Objectives

• PESTEL Analysis• Key Success Factors

The Power of External Market Forces

Environmental

Economic

Legal

Technological

Social

Political

POLITICAL• Government type and stability

• Freedom of the press, rule of law and levels of bureaucracy and corruption

• Regulation and de-regulation trends

• Social and employment legislation

• Tax policy, and trade and tariff controls

• Environmental and consumer-protection legislation

• Likely changes in the political environment

Economic• Stage of a business cycle • Current and projected economic growth, inflation and

interest rates • Unemployment and supply of labor• Labor costs • Levels of disposable income and income distribution • Impact of globalization • Likely impact of technological or other changes on

the economy • Likely changes in the economic environment

Social• Cultural aspects, health consciousness, population

growth rate, age distribution, • Organizational culture, attitudes to work, management style, staff attitudes• Education, occupations, earning capacity, living

standards • Ethical issues, diversity, immigration/emigration,

ethnic/religious factors• Media views, law changes affecting social factors,

trends, advertisements, publicity• Demographics: age, gender, race, family size

Technological• Research Funding, Technology legislation, new

discoveries

• Information technology, internet, global and local communications

• Technology access, licensing, patents, potential innovation, replacement technology/solutions,

• Transportation, energy uses/sources/fuels, waste removal/recycling

Legal

• current home market legislation, future legislation• international legislation• regulatory bodies and processes• environmental regulations, employment

law, consumer protection• industry-specific regulations, competitive

regulations

Environmental

• How people’s perception and reaction to environmental issues can affect a business.

Step 4: Identify Key Success Factors

• Key success factors: controllable variables that determine the relative success of market participants.

• The keys to unlocking the secrets of competing successfully in a particular market segment.

Step 4: Identify Key Success Factors

Common Types of KSFs• Technology Expertise in Research

• Manufacturing RelatedAbility to Achieve Economies of ScaleQuality ControlHigh Utilization of Fixed AssetsHigh Labor Productivity

• Distribution RelatedStrong Network of Wholesale Distributors/DealersStrong Direct Sales CapabilitiesAbility to Secure Favorable Display Space on Retailers Shelves

Step 4: Identify Key Success Factors

Common Types of KSFs• Marketing Brand NameFast, Accurate Technical AssistanceAccurate Filling of Buyer’s OrdersCustomer Guarantees

• Skills & CapabilityTalented WorkforceProduct Innovation CapabilitiesShort Delivery time CapabilitiesStrong E Commerce Capabilities

• OtherConvenient Location

Step 5: Analyze Competitors

• NFIB study: Small business owners believe they operate in a highly competitive environment and the level of competition is increasing.

• Yet, 97 percent of all U.S. businesses do not systematically track the progress of their key competitors.

Step 5: Analyze Competitors

Analyzing key competitors allows an entrepreneur to:• Avoid surprises from existing competitors’ new

strategies and tactics.

• Identify potential new competitors and the threats they pose.

• Improve reaction time to competitors’ actions.

• Anticipate rivals’ next strategic moves.

Step 5: Analyze Competitors

Techniques do not require unethical behavior:

• Monitor industry and trade publications.

• Talk to customers and suppliers.

• Regularly debrief employees, especially sales representatives and purchasing agents.

• Attend trade shows and conferences and study competitors’ sales literature.

Step 5: Analyze Competitors

Techniques do not require unethical behavior:

• Watch for employment ads from competitors to get an idea about their plans for the future.

• Conduct patent searches for patents competitors have filed.

• Learn about the kinds of equipment and raw materials competitors are importing.

• Buy competitors’ products and “benchmark” them.

Step 5: Analyze Competitors

Techniques do not require unethical behavior:• Get competitors’ credit reports.

• Check out the reports publicly held competitors must file with the SEC.

• Use the World Wide Web to learn more about competitors.

• Visit competing businesses to observe their operations.

Knowledge Management

• The practice of gathering, organizing, and disseminating the collective wisdom and experience of a company’s employees for the purpose of strengthening its competitive position.

• Knowledge management involves:– Taking inventory of the special knowledge the people in

the company possess. – Organizing that knowledge and disseminating it to those

who need it.

Step 6: Create Company Goalsand Objectives

• Goals - broad, long-range attributes to be accomplished.

• Objectives - more detailed, specific targets of performance that are S.M.A.R.T.– Specific– Measurable– Attainable– Realistic (yet challenging)– Timely

Step 6: Create Company Goalsand Objectives

• SMART GOAL EXAMPLEBroad Goal: I want to grow my business.Specific: I will acquire twenty new clients for my consulting business.Measurable: I will measure my progress by how many new clients I bring on, while maintaining my current client base.Attainable: I will ask current clients for referrals, launch a social media marketing campaign and network with local businesses.Relevant: Adding additional clients to my business will allow me to grow my business and increase my revenue. Time-Based: I will have twenty new clients within six months.

Step 7: Formulate Strategies

• Strategy - a road map of the actions an entrepreneur draws up to achieve a company’s mission, goals, and objectives. It is the company’s game plan for gaining a competitive advantage.

• Three basic strategies:

Strategy?

Cost leadership

Differentiation

Focus

Three Generic Strategy Options

Cost Leadership• Goal: to be the low-cost producer in the industry

(or market segment).• Low-cost leaders have an advantage in reaching

buyers who buy on the basis of price, and they have the power to set the industry’s price floor.

• Works well when:– Buyers are sensitive to price changes.– Competing firms sell the same commodity products.– A company can benefit from economies of scale.

• Example: JetBlue Airlines

Differentiation• Company seeks to build customer loyalty by

positioning its goods or services in a unique or different fashion.

• Idea is to be special at something customers value.

• Key: Build basis for differentiation on a distinctive competence, something that the small company is uniquely good at doing in comparison to its competitors.

• Examples: Outfitters and the Ice Hotel

Focus• Company selects one or more customer segments

in a market; identifies customers’ special needs, wants, or interests; and then targets them with a product or service designed specifically for them.

• Strategy builds on differences among market segments.

• Rather than try to serve the total market, the company focuses on serving a niche (or several niches) within that market.

• Examples: Rolls Royce

Step 8: Translate Strategies into Action Plans

• Survey of senior executives: Companies achieved only 63 percent of the results in their strategic plans.

• Create projects by defining:– Purpose– Scope– Contribution– Resource requirements– Timing

Step 9: Establish Accurate Controls

• Plan establishes the standards against which actual performance is measured.

• Entrepreneur must:– identify and track key performance

indicators.– take corrective action.

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You Be The Consultant..

CASE STUDY

• YOU BE THE CONSULTANT There is an unlimited amount of useful knowledge and information to gain from any company in any industry. The Crowley family has proved that many times over by borrowing techniques used in their bottling plant (Polar Beverages), applying those to their ski area (Wachusett Mountain), and vice versa.A key factor for the success of both operations is filling unused capacity. An hour of unused or inefficient production time in the bottling plant has the same effect as an hour of unused or inefficient time on the ski slopes. The ski area was able to fill its idle capacity by targeting a number of diversified markets that use the slopes at different times of the day and week. The bottling plant was able to fill its idle capacity by reshaping the size of its bottles to better pack trucks.On the surface, companies in different industries may appear to have little in common. The entrepreneur recognizes the opportunities of technology transfer--applying the lessons learned in one business and applying those same principles to assorted others.

Q1. Explain the core competencies that Wachusett Mountain has built. What is the source of its core competencies?Q2.Explain how Wachusett Mountain uses knowledge management to build a competitive advantage. What other steps would you suggest the company take in this area?

Lecture Review

• PESTEL Analysis• Key Success Factors